Welcome to the latest chapter in the Hugoversity library, where each month we review a PR and marketing-related book to quench our thirst for lifelong learning.

For this month’s book review, Head Girl Charlotte read Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up to Do Business with You, by Daniel Priestley, which all boiled down to a simple message that can often get overlooked in today’s noisy world.

In short, whatever you do, and whatever field you work in, it all comes down to supply and demand.

Don’t fight for customers, let them fight over you!

Have you ever queued for a restaurant? Pre-ordered something months in advance? Fought for tickets that sell out in a day? Had a hairdresser with a six-month waiting list? There are people who don’t chase clients, clients chase them. In a world of endless choices, why does this happen? Why do people queue up? Why do they pay more? Why will they book months in advance? Why are these people and products in such high demand? And how can you get a slice of that action?

In Oversubscribed, entrepreneur and bestselling author Daniel Priestley explains why… and, most importantly, how. This book is a recipe for ensuring demand outstrips supply for your product or service, and you have scores of customers lining up to give you money.

Sounds good, but how?

“People don’t buy what others want to sell. They buy what others want to buy.”

Priestley’s goal is to change the way we think about numbers. While we may think that, for something to be oversubscribed, it needs millions of people wanting it, in truth, you only need two people wanting one item for demand to outstrip supply.

To do this, and become oversubscribed, he advocates a becoming a ‘campaign driven enterprise’; an approach encouraging as many people to engage with the business at one time, creating a buzz and avoiding burnout.

This is a key lesson for PR strategies, the hype surrounding new Apple launches being a perfect example.

As such, Priestley argues that defining a maximum capacity, and saying no to anything above that, is vital in order to deliver a world class experience.

However, to do this, you have to feel comfortable with some people missing out – learn to say no. Ask any parent of a toddler – a withheld item is so much more valuable than one that is freely available, but it can be daunting to translate this to the world of business.

Role with it

One of the book’s other main messages is the importance of having four key team members in your firm, and having them work together to create an ecosystem of people, products and services that all work in harmony. As a whole, they deliver the positive experience that will keep people coming back for more.

Priestley identifies these key people as follows:

• Key person of influence – A leader who is known, liked and trusted within the industry, so as to bring the team together.
• Head of sales and marketing – Manages leads, close sales and follow up with referrals.
• Head of operations and production – Focuses on improving processes and delivering values consistently.
• Head of finance, logistics and reporting – Helps to steer the campaign towards a profitable result. Actively seeks access to investments, loans, grants and discounts.

The power of word of mouth

In the age of social media, Priestley argues that the best way to become oversubscribed is to be remarkable at what you do. If you do this, social media followers, positive Google reviews and word of mouth will do your marketing for you.

However, the best brands don’t simply sell products; they sell ideas, they sell people and they sell lifestyles – and sometimes they do it for free.

Priestley points to the example of chef Jamie Oliver, and his network of cookbooks, restaurants and TV shows. Taken individually, these don’t create an empire; combined, along with the campaigning and TED talks and Twitter, they lead to more than the sum of their parts, tying once again into Priestley’s concept of ecosystems – an idea he repeatedly references.

So, what did we think?

Priestley’s book is well-written and easily digestible, and it was good to know that he has put everything he talks about into action and is a real success.

The book also reinforced a lot of fundamentals that our own PR and marketing strategies are based on, such as running businesses around a series of campaigns, always thinking mobile and media first and using a brand’s position to educate and entertain, as opposed to simply selling.

We’re also strongly on board with Priestley’s concept of building a remarkable personal brand to become a key person of influence. It’s true that human brains connect with faces, body language and words rather than just brands alone, and we often encourage clients to separate themselves from the market to really stand out.

And finally, we also loved the ideas about the value being created in ecosystems, both in terms of within a team and as a wider branding tool. We always encourage clients to give ideas away for free and charge for implementation, and, within our own ecosystem of The Pack, we’re passionate about adding value through personal development.

All in all, Priestley’s book is a valuable read, reminding us of some simple truths as well as teaching us some new ways of thinking – highly recommended!

If you’d like your brand to become oversubscribed, throw us a bone on 01325 486666 or email study@hugoversity.com